Forty Days of Temptations

Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25-3:7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11

The temptation and fall of Adam and Eve in the garden and the story of Jesus' temptation and victory over sin in the wilderness are very much related. For, being like Adam and Eve, we have fallen and lost Eden over and over again. But, when we put on Christ we are saved, for Jesus Christ was victorious over temptation and sin and death.

Now, in today's gospel lesson there are three temptations that faced Christ as he went forth into the wilderness. The first of these temptations has to do with consuming at the expense of being interested in what God has to say to our lives. We are told that after being out in the wilderness for such a long time Jesus got hungry. And the devil came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, why don't you just turn one of those stones into a loaf of bread and have yourself something to eat?"

Well, of course, Jesus could have done something like that. After all, there are several instances in the gospels and book of Acts where Jesus miraculously provided food for others. So, indeed, Jesus' problem, out in the wilderness, wasn't one of having enough food. But, rather, his very reason for being there was to be fed by the Father in heaven with a completely different kind of food. And, indeed, he knew that if he fasted then he might be in an even greater physical and spiritual state of readiness to receive what God had to give to him.

Now, we might do well to compare Jesus' concern for consuming at the expense of being fed by God with the concern we have for our own physical and spiritual lives. Indeed, we live in a consumer society. We compare ourselves with one another, not by how spiritual we are, but by how much we have. In school our children value themselves and each other, not by how helpful they can be, not by what kind of a friend they can be, not by how studious they can be, but by what kind of clothes they wear and what kind of hairstyles they have on their heads.

For many, feeding the pocket book has become far more important than feeding the soul. This is more true today than ever before. When I was little it was unheard of for a store to be open on a Sunday. Grocery stores, pharmacies, department stores: you couldn't buy anything on Sunday. And the reason for this was that so many people were concerned with going to church and spending time with their families that they wanted laws to protect this privilege. And there were laws, called blue laws. But, over the years, these laws have been repealed. Where, at one time, it was not advisable to go on a long trip on a Sunday because of the difficulty in finding an open gas station, now, it is a rare gas station that isn't open on Sunday to sell everything from gas to beer. And it is because more people are concerned with feeding their pocket books than feeding their souls.

But, Jesus knew that "man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." And the question we need to be asking ourselves is this one: Do we take the time we need to take with ourselves, and with our spouse, and with our children so that we and they may feed upon the word that comes from God? Or are we just too busy, too tired from everything else that's going on, too involved with making money or having fun to hear what God has to say to us?

While we were in Centreville our church had an aerobics class which met at the church four times a week after school. And I couldn't help but notice the healthy bodies that came in regularly to do all those exercises to an hour's worth of music. And, sometimes, as I was working on my sermon, and this bouncy music was playing down the hall from my office, I had to wonder to myself, "How many of those well fed, well exercised, well cared for bodies, have well fed, well exercised, well cared for souls within them?" The body may look marvelous, but what is the condition of the soul?

The second temptation that Jesus encountered at the hands of the devil was that of testing God. Satan told Jesus that if he wanted to prove that he was the Son of God, all he had to do was go to the highest pinnacle on the Temple while everyone was looking and throw himself off. If he was really God's Son, the angels would catch him and set him neatly upon the ground. And, what's interesting here is that in offering this temptation to Jesus, the devil even quoted some scripture, saying: "He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

We don't always think about it, but the devil is actually a very religious fellow. The devil believes that there is a God. And the devil even uses the Bible and the teachings of the church. The devil knows what God has said. And, what's more is that the devil uses all of these things very effectively with Christians who are not very close to God, but believe in God; and with those who believe in the Bible, but do not know it very well. In fact, we are told that most of the new members of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church are those who believe in God and in the Bible, but have been only marginally involved in any church. Having a respect for the Bible, people who have a limited knowledge of the Bible can be tricked and fooled in any number of ways by cleverly deceptive person who knows his bible well.

For example, the Jehovah's Witnesses have many beliefs which are based upon a very limited number of scripture passages, rather than upon an understanding of the Bible as a whole. For instance, taking verses of Acts 15 out of context, and ignoring Jesus' examples of healing on the Sabbath, the Jehovah's Witnesses to not allow their members to take blood transfusions.

Or take another example: Ever once in a while you hear of how the State has to raid a cult group in order to put their children into protective custody because of beatings and other abuse for what have been cited as biblical teachings. Actually, all they have read of the bible are about six verses from the book of Proverbs, and they have misunderstood most of these.

So, indeed, if we are going to avoid temptation, one of the best pieces of ammunition for us is a good knowledge of the Bible -- not just a respect for what the Bible says; not just the ability to find a specific book quickly -- but a well informed biblical education.

But, I'm afraid that this is one area where the United Methodist Church has failed over the past 35 years, or so. While our denomination has excelled at taking up causes our Sunday Schools have declined. While becoming expert social workers, we have forgotten the importance of a solid program of adult Christian education. Too many adult United Methodists think that Sunday School is for kids; that there isn't much left for them to learn of a spiritual or biblical nature. And, when the adult Sunday School begins to fail you can bet that the rest of a church's Sunday School program is close behind. And one of the biggest reasons for this is that when a child sees that adults don't go to Sunday School they assume that Sunday School is kids' stuff. And most of the kids I know, by the time they reach sixth and seventh grade, think they are adults and don't want to have anything to do with kid's stuff. It is the church, on the other hand, that has a strong adult Sunday School program that will have a strong children and youth program, as well.

Finally, the third temptation of Christ was one of power. Jesus was taken by the devil to a very high place where he could see all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, and told, "All of this I will give to you if you will bow down and worship me."

I'm not quite sure why, but as I think about this scripture, I get a vivid picture in my mind's eye of another high place, not too far away from here. As you drive north on Highway 23 you can see it. In fact, on a warm day you can smell it. If you haven't guessed, already, that high place is the huge landfill on the east side of the road, just north of the Torrey Road exit. And, as I think about places like that all over our country, I am reminded of how fallen our society actually is. For, indeed, in allowing our materialism to get so out of hand as to destroy God's creation for the generations to come, in our lust to wastefully dominate the world around us, we have bowed down and worshiped the Lord of the Flies.

In answer to Satan, Jesus said, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written:

'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." I know, there are those who can't understand how anyone could make a connection between worshiping and serving the Lord with the creation of a land fill. Nevertheless, once we have gotten it into our heads that worshiping and serving God is a seven day a week labor of love, rather than simply a one hour a week worship service, it is then that we begin to understand the responsibility we have of taking care of all that God has made; that our worship only begins on Sunday morning and continues throughout the week.

Eden was lost and is lost over and over again in the experience of human beings because we fail to accept this truth. And it is only in those rare and satisfying moments, when humanity recovers and accepts this truth, that we have seen a glimpse of the kingdom of God and briefly recovered Eden, once again. Amen.